Oh my! Don't miss out on the complexities of the first flushes! I feel strongly about them. Chip's right, a shorter steep time will alleviate the excessive astringency. A good tippy first flush should just have a slight bite to it. But in an enhancing sort of way. Try 3 minutes as a median steep time and adjust from there. The rewards of soft sweetness, gentle floral notes that linger are well worth the efforts!

Second flushes are certainly smoother and have more body, but not nearly the depth of the early harvests.

For someone who has tasted 6 different First flush DJ in the last week, I can say that they are not. However, let me known, that my palate is more accustomed to pu-erh which of course can be ultra bitter.

That is the nature of the beast. Darjeeling's are astringent. Remember in the tea world an astringent Darjeeling is good. Astrigency doesn't mean bitter. I compare astringent Darjeelings to dry wine. If you don't like dry wine don't drink dry wine. If you don't like astringent tea don't drink Darjeeling's. Personally I don't like that astringent taste. I pretty much stay with Chinese teas from the Yunnan providence. Try those out.

Chip wrote:They are more astringent, no doubt about that. Try a couple of things to alleviate the excessive astringency.

Reduce water temp a littleUse less leafBrew shorter time

When brewed properly, Darjeeling has an almost magical quality to it, simply incredible.

Hope that helps.

Reduction of water temp (to a brisk steam rather than a full boil) and watching my steep time (2 min or so) was indeed helpful. Didn't use any less leaf, tho'.

jashnew wrote:That is the nature of the beast. Darjeeling's are astringent. Remember in the tea world an astringent Darjeeling is good. Astrigency doesn't mean bitter. I compare astringent Darjeelings to dry wine. If you don't like dry wine don't drink dry wine. If you don't like astringent tea don't drink Darjeeling's. Personally I don't like that astringent taste. I pretty much stay with Chinese teas from the Yunnan providence. Try those out.

No doubt Darjeelings have a characteristic 'astringent' bite. Clearly a place for that. But I still do prefer my Yunnan Golds and Bai Hao oolongs (a.k.a. Adagio #40).

Expat- Thanks for the response. It's funny how you said you prefer Yunnan Gold and Hao Bin Ren. Those are my two favorite teas. Unfortunately I have to get those two teas from other places and not Adagio. I like their smoothness. Darjeeling's are not for me.